Check your passport!

On Nov. 21, we a family of five traveled abroad for a holiday. Everything seemed fine during our departure.

When we returned on Dec. 9, after surrendering all our five passports to the immigration counter the officer by the name of Ida returned my wife's passport and requested her to surrender the passport she used for departure. With great surprise, we told her each one of us had only one passport and my wife used the same passport for departure.

The officer questioned my wife as to why her passport did not have a departure date stamped on it.

We told her that could be due to the negligence of the immigration officer during our departure. She did not agree.

After some threats, she demanded Rp 500,000 to resolve the problem. As we were not carrying that much cash, we settled with an equivalent of Rp 160,000 in several currencies.

Some advise for fellow travelers: Check your passport each time before leaving the immigration counter.

LIM HENG CHENG Serpong, Banten